NFL rules require a minimum of seven players on the line of scrimmage.
The seven players on the line of scrimmage are not eligible receivers, but the tackles must be covered by eligible receivers.
Eligible receivers must be one yard behind the line of scrimmage. Eligible receivers may not line up in a three point stance.

GSPODS wrote:NFL rules require a minimum of seven players on the line of scrimmage.The seven players on the line of scrimmage are not eligible receivers, but the tackles must be covered by eligible receivers.Eligible receivers must be one yard behind the line of scrimmage. Eligible receivers may not line up in a three point stance.

What about the D. Is there a limit to 3 down linemen? Go could you accually have 11 DBs in coverage? I would think there is some kind of rule, or that could really be one sided on passing downs. Or any rule that can't line up at the line, then drop in coverage?

What about the D. Is there a limit to 3 down linemen? Go could you accually have 11 DBs in coverage? I would think there is some kind of rule, or that could really be one sided on passing downs. Or any rule that can't line up at the line, then drop in coverage?

Gregg (the 2nd G stands for genius) Williams was known for dropping Lineman into coverage and blitzing his corners. I guess you could have the corners cover the deep along with the safeties, and drop the lineman into the flats to help the linebackers, as long as they don't run a draw on that play

Incidentally, whenever a player with a line-man's number is "uncovered" on the end, he has to "report" to an official that he is an eligible receiver. The stadium announcer will say "Number 91 is eligible".

Gibbs used to put a DT in at TE sometimes. In fact, he always had a "Heavy Jumbo" package in which he would replace the TE with a lineman, and put another lineman at H-back. In '91, they threw a few times to Russ Grimm as H-back.

Oh, and I've been meaning to type out an article I found from the NY Times, about 1903, in which college football changed its rule about the number of players required to line up on the LOS. The rule was intended to outlaw the "flying wedge", open up the offense, and reduce the "brutality" of the game.

How? You'll have to wait until I get some time to transcribe it, but you can estimate what a play was like from the bad things that were expected to disappear. Hint: you were forbidden to punch an opponent in the jaw.

GSPODS wrote:NFL rules require a minimum of seven players on the line of scrimmage.The seven players on the line of scrimmage are not eligible receivers, but the tackles must be covered by eligible receivers.Eligible receivers must be one yard behind the line of scrimmage. Eligible receivers may not line up in a three point stance.So, the simple answer to the question is, No.

WRONG WRONG WRONG WRONG, yes you must have 7 on the line of scrimmage which means, by simple math, that you can only have a maximum of 4 in the backfield. Now if you run a two back system, do the math with me, you have a QB, a FB and a TB, that's only 3. So where's the 4th guy? Well, in the NFL most likely he's a WR on the side of the TE split out wide and off the line of scrimmage. According to GSPODS eligible receivers can't line up in a three point stance. Again, WRONG WRONG WRONG WRONG. Last time I checked TEs are usually lined up on the line of scrimmage in a 3 point stance. So when a formation has 1 WR to each side that means the other WR IS ON THE LINE OF SCRIMMAGE, not 1 yard behind the line of scrimmage OR the tackle to that side would be eligible which (GSPODS got this right) is an illegal formation because the tackle must be "covered" by an eligible receiver.

The eligible receivers are the last two guys on the line of scrimmage and people lined up in the backfield. So that means you can have 2 WR, 1 TE and 2 backs eligible to receive a pass.

The reason why we call them Tight Ends, because they are tight to the formation and the Split End is the last guy on the line of scrimmage that is split away from the formation, but he's still on the line.

Your interior linemen (tackles, guards, center) are all ineligible to be the first to touch the ball, if they do touch the ball first this is an illegal touching penalty.

I hope this explains it better

If you're mad at your kid, you can either raise him to be a nose tackle or send him out to play on the freeway. It's about the same. ~Bob Golic

GSPODS wrote:NFL rules require a minimum of seven players on the line of scrimmage.The seven players on the line of scrimmage are not eligible receivers, but the tackles must be covered by eligible receivers.Eligible receivers must be one yard behind the line of scrimmage. Eligible receivers may not line up in a three point stance.So, the simple answer to the question is, No.

WRONG WRONG WRONG WRONG, yes you must have 7 on the line of scrimmage which means, by simple math, that you can only have a maximum of 4 in the backfield. Now if you run a two back system, do the math with me, you have a QB, a FB and a TB, that's only 3. So where's the 4th guy? Well, in the NFL most likely he's a WR on the side of the TE split out wide and off the line of scrimmage. According to GSPODS eligible receivers can't line up in a three point stance. Again, WRONG WRONG WRONG WRONG. Last time I checked TEs are usually lined up on the line of scrimmage in a 3 point stance. So when a formation has 1 WR to each side that means the other WR IS ON THE LINE OF SCRIMMAGE, not 1 yard behind the line of scrimmage OR the tackle to that side would be eligible which (GSPODS got this right) is an illegal formation because the tackle must be "covered" by an eligible receiver.

The eligible receivers are the last two guys on the line of scrimmage and people lined up in the backfield. So that means you can have 2 WR, 1 TE and 2 backs eligible to receive a pass.

The reason why we call them Tight Ends, because they are tight to the formation and the Split End is the last guy on the line of scrimmage that is split away from the formation, but he's still on the line.

Your interior linemen (tackles, guards, center) are all ineligible to be the first to touch the ball, if they do touch the ball first this is an illegal touching penalty.

Eligible receivers may not line up in a three point stance. The seven players on the line of scrimmage are not eligible receivers,

I don't see that anywhere?? Both of these statement are false.It’s how you interpret it. It doesn’t say eligible receivers must be off the line we all know that is false it says “Offensive players, not on line, must be at least one yard back at snap” and “Offensive team must have at least seven players on line” So you can have 10 on the line if you want of course only two are eligible. I see all kinds of crazy formations in Pop Warner also you see ther A11 offense that has gotten popular, they put 11 guys with eligible number on the offense and then change formations forcing the D to figure out who is eligible and who is not.

Probly not, but that would be cool with Yader beside the gard, then ey, then Davis on the other side, Plus, 4 WR set for hail marys

Impossible because you have to have a min of 7 so the formation you are taking about would look like this

TE G C G TE TE "On the line"
WR WR QB WR WR "Off the line"

That would put only 6 on the line one of the WR would have to move up making everyone inside of him ineligible. Also only one TE on the right would be eligible because he is cover by the other TE. The rules are like this so that no matter how you slice it there are only 6 eligible players on the O.

"Sean Taylor is hands down the best athlete I've ever coached it's not even close" Gregg Williams 2005 Mini-Camp

BnGhog wrote:I know there is a rule that you can only have x amount of people line up on the line. Is there a rule that you can have NO LESS than x amount of people on the line?

For example, Could you have two Gards one each side of the center, and the rest of the line made up of TEs who are eligble?

Probly not, but that would be cool with Yader beside the gard, then ey, then Davis on the other side, Plus, 4 WR set for hail marys.

And this was the simple answer, as it says in the quote:

GSPODS wrote:NFL rules require a minimum of seven players on the line of scrimmage.The seven players on the line of scrimmage are not eligible receivers, but the tackles must be covered by eligible receivers.Eligible receivers must be one yard behind the line of scrimmage. Eligible receivers may not line up in a three point stance.

Yes, there are hundreds of more complex answers, but this did answer the orginal question asked. Discussions on two and three point stances, blocking versus receiving ends, reported eligible linemen, the one yard "neutral zone" rule for eligible receivers, and the like are more detailed than Football 101, so bringing them up did not seem necessary at the time, although had I known it would be picked apart several months later, I would have spelled it out in more detail. Thank You.

But the highlighted portions of your response are false, so you did not answer the question accurately.

GSPODS wrote:NFL rules require a minimum of seven players on the line of scrimmage.The seven players on the line of scrimmage are not eligible receivers, but the tackles must be covered by eligible receivers.Eligible receivers must be one yard behind the line of scrimmage. Eligible receivers may not line up in a three point stance.

JSPB22 wrote:But the highlighted portions of your response are false, so you did not answer the question accurately.

GSPODS wrote:NFL rules require a minimum of seven players on the line of scrimmage.The seven players on the line of scrimmage are not eligible receivers, but the tackles must be covered by eligible receivers.Eligible receivers must be one yard behind the line of scrimmage. Eligible receivers may not line up in a three point stance.

What he said...The reason he ask the question was because he wanted all three TE and 4 WR plus the QB to be eligible with only two guards and a C not eligible??

Not sure where you cut and pasted from but the link you provided doesn't say it??

"Sean Taylor is hands down the best athlete I've ever coached it's not even close" Gregg Williams 2005 Mini-Camp

I was just pointing out the erroneous infromation that seemed to be added to the "simple" answer to the question. But yes GSPODS did correctly answer the question with a "no".

NFL rules require a minimum of seven players on the line of scrimmage. The seven players on the line of scrimmage are not eligible receivers, but the tackles must be covered by eligible receivers. Eligible receivers must be one yard behind the line of scrimmage. Eligible receivers may not line up in a three point stance.

Can we agree that a Tight End is eligible?
Can we agree that most Tight Ends line up next to the Tackle in a 3 point stance on the line of srimmage?

If the answer is "YES" as it should be, then the part of the "simple" answer about the 7 players on the line of scrimmage not being eligible receivers and that eligible receivers cannot be in a 3 point stance is wrong. I don't need to read the NFL rule book to know this, because to me, this information IS FOOTBALL 101.

If you're mad at your kid, you can either raise him to be a nose tackle or send him out to play on the freeway. It's about the same. ~Bob Golic

Sorry to go off topic momentarily, but Thundersloth, using the quote button is a lot easier way to address a person's post than reprinting it in the middle of your own text. It is also a lot more legible for the reader.

Back on topic:
From where did you get those three sentences, GSPODS? As DEHog pointed out, they are nowhere to be found at the link you provided.